Two recent trends in social behavior and social goals combine to make the present invention desirable.
The first trend is exemplified by an upsurge of interest in obtaining first-hand experience in the "great outdoors" by hiking into wilderness areas and other less-frequented places, and by visiting the less crowded beaches and the like. This interest has resulted in an enormous increase in the number of persons visiting such areas which, unfortunately, means an increase in the amount of waste, particularly human and pet waste and excrement, which is discarded and deposited in these places. Besides posing a serious health hazard because of the increase in the number of flies and other disease-carrying insects and rodents attracted by waste, the presence of such waste is distinctly unpleasant to other visitors, as has been the experience of many in recent years.
The above-described increase in waste-producing activities collides head-on with the goals of the second trend, which is the increased emphasis on reducing environmental pollution. In the case of the aforementioned outdoor activities, efforts have been made to limit the number of visitors to the remote areas, require visitors to carry digging tools for burying their waste, restrict the taking of pets to certain areas such as public beaches, and the like. Public toilets have been constructed in remote areas, even though this tends to reduce the "wildness" of an area. This latter expedient is expensive to initiate and maintain, as vehicular access is almost never available to some of the more remote areas, and all materials must be packed in and out personally or by pack animal. Guarding against vandalism is also difficult. Such facilities do not help to alleviate the problem of pet excrement, in any case.
Some authorities responsible for the oversight of such areas encourage or require that visitors to these areas carry digging tools with which to bury their waste, but such requirements are difficult to enforce because tools adequate for such purposes have been, up to now, both expensive to purchase and cumbersome to carry, especially into some of the more remote areas. Even so, many visitors to such places recognize the problem and attempt to do something about it, but it is difficult to carry a shovel or other tool of sufficient sturdiness to solve the problem on an extended outing.
What is needed is a compact hand-held digging tool that is sturdy, reliable, efficient, easily carried on even long hikes, and inexpensive enough that it would not be unreasonable on the part of the authorities to require that everyone who is in certain areas, with or without pets, have such a tool on their person at all times.
Few, if any, tools of such characteristics and of a sufficiently small size have been developed in the past. Several efforts have been made to develop full-sized tools with such features, not entirely successfully, however. For example, Blum U.S. Pat. No. 3,456,663 discloses a combined walking cane and scoop, the latter feature specifically for scooping up waste and pet excrement. Although it attempts to solve one aspect of the above stated need, it is not intended as a digging tool, and it would not be convenient to carry, even though reduced in size.
Carlsson Swedish Pat. No. 79,381 discloses a digging shovel incorporating a pivot mechanism enabling the blade to be folded forward to an angle of about 45.degree. to the handle to facilitate carrying and storing. Although this disclosure specifically relates to a foldable digging tool, it would not be convenient for carrying under the conditions outlined above, even were it to be reduced in size.
Stritter U.S. Pat. No. 801,557 discloses a post hole shovel which folds to facilitate removing the loosened dirt from a hole. The blade maintains a proper position to be inserted into the earth, but then can be folded to an angle of 90.degree. to the handle by action of the handle so that the loosened earth can be withdrawn thereby. The blade does not fold into a convenient position for carrying, even if the tool were reduced to a convenient size.
Williams U.S. Pat. No. 2,781,711 discloses a trowel-sized, hand-held, multi-purpose tool, in which the blade pivots to a number of different positions for different garden tasks. However, it does not fold into a small size or convenient configuration that would make it easy to carry on extended trips into wilderness areas, or even on a public beach with pets.
Albers U.S. Pat. No. 261,894 discloses a manure fork that can be converted into a rake-like tool by pivoting the tine portion of the tool into a 90.degree. angle to the handle, in somewhat the same way that Blum or Stritter, above, pivot their respective blades about their respective handle. Even reducing Albers in size would not convert it into a useful or convenient tool for the purposes described above.
Bengtsson U.S. Pat. No. 993,015 discloses a military intrenching tool which has a shovel-like blade that can be detached from the handle to use as a shield against bayonets, bullets or other weapons. Bengtsson does not disclose any means for pivoting the blade against the handle in order that the tool may be more easily and conveniently carried.